MODULE 1

POWER SYSTEM OPERATION

1.1 SYSTEM LOAD CHARACTERISTICS

1.2 UNIT COMMITMENT

1.3 ECONOMIC LOAD DISPATCH

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Overview of power system
•Generation, transmission and distribution of electrical power is power
system.
•It is a complex interconnected system operating with various voltage levels.
Generation:
• Electrical power is generated by alternators in generating
station.
• Generated voltage is usually 11kV.
Transmission:
• Generated voltage is stepped upto 132 kV (or more) at the generating
station with the help of 3-phase transformers.
• Electrical power at 132 kV is transmitted by 3-phase, Primary
transmission : 3-wire overhead system to the outskirts of the city.

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Overview of power system
•Electrical power scenario in India as on April 2020,

Installed Capacity in MW:

• Northern Region - 99376.93
• Western Region - 120787.24
• Southern Region - 112078.34
• Eastern Region - 33523.32
• North Eastern Region - 4523.46

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Overview of power system

Layout of a typical power system

Video link on overview of power system

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Loads on Power System
•Types of Consumers / Loads:
Domestic load
Commercial Load
Industrial Load
Municipal Load
Irrigation load
Traction load

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Loads on Power System
• Load Curve: A graph showing the hourly variation in demand during
the 24 hours of the day is chronological load curve.
• Area under the load curve gives the energy consumed (kWh) during
the 24 hrs.
• Load curve may be daily, weekly, monthly or yearly.

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 Loads on Power System
•Industrial Load:
 - small, Medium, heavy.
 - depends on the no. of shift per day

• Commercial load:
 Lightning, fans, small electric appliances.
 Load is constant around 9 AM t0 8 PM.

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Loads on Power System
•Urban Traction Load:
tram cars, suburban trains etc..

Municipal Load:
Street lightning, water supply etc..

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Load Curves-Types
•Daily load curve –Load variations during the whole day
•Monthly load curve –Load curve obtained from the daily
load curve of a month
•Yearlyload curve -Load curve obtained from the monthly
load curve of a year

Video on Load Curve and Load duration curve

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Load duration curve
•Rearrangement of all the load elements of a chronological
curve in descending order.

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Base and peak Load
•Base load : Unvarying load
which occurs almost the
whole day on the station
•Peak load : Various peak
demand of load on the
station

Video on "How does a power grid works" including base and

peak loads

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Base load power plants:
•Plants that are running continuously over extended periods of time are said
to be base load power plant.
•The power from these plants is used to cater the base demand of the grid.
•Factors: long starting time requirement, fuel requirements.
•Examples:
Nuclear power plant
Coal power plant
Hydroelectric plant
Geothermal plant
Biogas plant
Biomass plant
Solar thermal with storage
Ocean thermal energy conversion

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Peak load power plants:
•To cater the demand peaks, peak load power plants are used.
•They are started up whenever there is a spike in demand and
stopped when the demand recedes.
•Examples of peak load plants are,
Gas plant
Solar power plants
Wind turbines
Diesel generators

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Load Characteristics:
•Connected load
•Maximum demand
•Average load
•Load factor
•Diversity factor
•Plant capacity factor
•Plant use factor

Video on load characteristics

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Physical significance of load factor and diversity factor:
•Load factor has an effect on power plant design, operation and cost
of generation.
•It is a useful indicator for describing the consumption characteristics
of electricity over a period of time.

•Load factor indicates the monthly energy consumption of 36,000 kWh

used by the customer was 50% of the total energy available (72,000
kWh) for use at the 100 kW level.
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Physical significance of load factor and diversity factor:
•Load Factor is always less than 1 because average load in small than maximum
demand.
•Higher the load factor lesser will be the unit cost of generation.
•The Diversity factor can be 1 or greater than 1.
•Higher the demand factor, higher would be the consumption.
•Diversity Factor = (Sum of individual maximum demand)/(Maximum
demand on power station)
•With the given number of consumer the higher the diversity factor of their load,
the smaller will be the capacity of the plant required and consequently the fixed
charge due to capital investment will be much reduce.

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What is load forecasting:
•Estimating power demand at the various load buses ahead of
time
•Required for planning and operational applications.
•Make a statistical analysis of previous load data and set up a
suitable model of the demand pattern.
•Utilize the identified load model for making a prediction of the
estimated demand for the selected load time.
•Forecasting interval – Few seconds to few years

Video: Need for load forecasting

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Factors affecting load forecasting:
1.Time factor
* Hours of the day (day/night)
* Day of the week (weekday / weekend)
* Time of the year (season)
2. Weather conditions (temperature & humidity)
3. Class of customers (residential, commercial, agricultural etc..)
4. Population
5. Economic indicators
6. Electricity pricing

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• Types of load forecasting:

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Short term load forecasting:
•Essential for monitoring and controlling of power system.
•Hourly load forecast one week in advance – online solution of scheduling
problems.
•One hour forecast – real time control and security evaluation.
•Forecasting technique involves physical decomposition of load into 5
components.
 Daily pattern – reflecting the difference in activity level during the
day.
 Weekly pattern – representing the effect of load on the week.
 Trend component – concerning the seasonal growth in load.
 Weather sensitive component – representing the deviations in load
due to weather fluctuations.
 Error component – stochastic error component .

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Long term load forecasting:
•Extrapolation and correlation technique are used .
•To plan, install and commission additional generating capacity
•Extrapolation technique
 The method involves fitting trend curves to basic historical data
adjusted to reflect the growth trend itself.
 Some of the trend curve fitting are:
Straight line y =A +Bx
Parabola y = A + Bx + Cx2
Curve y = A + Bx + Cx2 + Dx3

where y is the load in year and A,B,C,D are constants computed by

the method of least squares.

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Long term load forecasting:
•Correlation technique

 Relates system loads to various demographic and economic factors.

 Population , employment, industrial licenses, weather data etc.. Are

used in correlation technique.
 Considered as difficult method

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 ACTIVITY

Tabulate and calculate the load connected in your house

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